San Antonio is like a military town. It's like literally - when I was growing up there, there were five Air Force bases, plus Fort Sam Houston. I was always sort of near the military.

The singer-songwriter has always played music that was stylistically rooted in the '30s and the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. But the fact of the matter is that none of us remember the Depression firsthand.

I have a theory that the people who cook in jails are British chefs.

Songwriters are expanding time rather than compressing time. My short stories tend to be old fashioned, with a beginning, middle and end.

I'm supposed to make people cry, but not by manipulating.

I don't spend a lot of time feeling sorry for myself, trying to compare how many records I've sold or how much money I've made.

Poetry is the hardest thing that there is. It fascinates me, so I want to write more of it.